The Press Photographer of The Year exibition is held at the National Theatre in London between Monday 18th July and will run for 7 weeks until Sunday 4th September. For anybody who is interested in Documentary photography such as myself, you cannot miss this exibition. I have been around 4 times and everytime the work there has been amazing! I know it’s quite a while off but if your interested remember these dates! 🙂
Vicky
For one of the lighting set-up exercises, the group had to choose a portrait image and then explore the used lighting set-up and then try to recreate theimage. This is my example of recreating an image; I chose the photograph of Clint Eastwood as I loved the way the image was visually presented and how clear the detail of Eastwood’s face was. I also love the expression on his face, really sums up his persona.
I’m really happy with the outcome however if I could reshoot it again, I would be a lot more precise with the back lighting as they don’t quite match however I think there are similarities and I thought this was a fun and helpful exercise.
Vicky
Foto8’s business card reads ‘online – in print – on display’. Lauren Heinz, editor 8 Magazine came to New College on 27 January to tell Photography Foundation Degree students from both year groups what that means for us and how we can get involved.
Foto8, an independent publisher, offers facilities such as a lively website with online gallery, a biannual printed magazine with high production values, events such as seminars, film screenings and Foto8 gallery in the East End of London.
Foto8 started in 1998 as an online magazine to show photographic work that was not being covered in the press. Since 2002, it has produced a printed magazine available on a biannual basis. The magazine aims to attract people who like the tangible nature of print material. It started as a collection of stories but issues two and three have focused on key issues such as Oil and Islam. It features narrative based documentary photography with accompanying journalistic articles and, at times, fiction. Foto8 will shortly announce the topic of the next magazine and will invite photographers to submit work. Lauren advised thinking about the best way to present narrative through photography. It is worth considering how many photographs are needed to tell the story as some stories, depending on the issue, only require about four to six images whereas other, more substantial, topics can support a breadth of photographs.
http://www.foto8.com/new/in-print/8-magazine
Foto8 gallery, opened in 2005, has shown over 40 exhibitions. Photographers showing there come with funding in place to pay for rent and curation of the space. Lauren advises people interesting in exhibiting to find organizations that will be interested in the work they are exploring as they may be prepared to offer sponsorship.
http://www.foto8.com/new/on-display/host-exhibitions
The annual Summer Show is an open entry exhibition that is launched with a huge street party. People from all over the world come to see the show. Lauren encourages photographers from any genre and all levels to take part. Foto8 supplies advice on framing and editioning. Details of last year’s exhibition can be found at:
http://www.foto8.com/new/on-display/summer-show-mainmenu-191
Foto8 also takes submissions for Story of the Week, a series of images from a project, either completed or in progress, preferably accompanied by audio recordings or music. This section has no particular theme but shows work that appeals to the team at Foto8. Lauren said, “There’s a misconception that you have to go somewhere but you can find stories in your own backyard.”
http://www.foto8.com/new/online/submissions
Foto8 has published several books including The Family by Jocelyn Bain Hogg. Lauren said that many photographers self publish using print on demand with companies such as Blurb. She recommends working with a designer to make your book visually exciting. She mentioned Adobe Indesign for editing and creating layouts of photography projects.
She said that photographers now need to be able to record audio and make films as well as take still pictures. These activities can provide a way to make some money to support personal projects. She says, “You have to find ways to creatively fund your work.” She gave an example of a photographer who asked friends and relations to each pay a small amount towards the cost of publishing in exchange for getting their names in the book. He was able to publish several books using this method.
In just over an hour Lauren gave us lots of valuable advice, guidance and links to further resources. Some of the main points that came out of the session were being clear about the concept you are exploring, thinking about how your images work with text and being prepared to talk about the work to others.
Review by Barbara
Posted by Vicky
For my portraiture module I have been photographing “eccentric” people. Here are a few snaps I have taken of my friend Kerry. I shot these images on a disposable camera. My main source of inspiration were images shown at the Dazed and Confused exhibition shot by Juergen Teller.
Click here to view the exhibitions website.
Dom x
Some photographers just don’t get enough credit…
Which is where Tim Mantoani steps in. He believes there was a void in peoples minds, everyone knows and has seen iconic images and will recognise them as something important when they see them. But the photographer behind those images, who knows who they are? Mantoani then decided to start a project and create a book which was released last year; Titled ‘Behind Photographs; Archiving Photographic Legends’, this unique project honours the photographers behind iconic images – all photos taken in the same style, the photographers holding their well known image in front of the camera. All these photographs were taken on the mammoth format of 20×24 Polaroid.
“…a recognition of the talent of these men that were able to capture those as fleeting as historic moments.”
View more of Mantoani’s work here
Posted by Gema
I am researching this photographer for my Contextual Studies Module and I found her work very inspiring. I especially like her individual project called ‘The Innocents’ as it is based on people that have been falsely accused of a violent crime and misidentification. The photos are taken in a place relevant to the crime. I have not seen work like this before so find it very interesting.
Here’s her website; http://tarynsimon.com/works_innocents.php
Enjoy,
Alex
Information from Barbara!
Poetry reading as a way of promoting professional photography;
I should explain…. Our tutors told us to work from our interests and passions. I love reading poetry. I love reflections – always have – and have chosen a portrait project using mirrors. I wanted to base the project on poems about mirrors and contacted BlueGate Poets, a local poetry group I know, for contacts. Katherine Owen responded with her poem Invariably Me, which has led to ideas for a series of pictures. During the first shoot last week, Katherine and I got talking about the January BlueGate Poets Open Mic session to be held the next day. I thought that it would be a good occasion to tell the group about my project and decided to read out one of the poems I researched for the project, Rainer Maria Rilke’s Lady at a Mirror. I contacted Hilda Sheehan who runs the group to book a slot and then spent the next 24 hours wondering what I had done. I almost chickened out about five times right up to the moment when I had to stand up and perform. I gave some background before launching into the reading and strangely enjoyed being on stage and getting into the spirit of the poem. I have had to talk to groups in the past but reading poetry out loud was a new experience for me. It was good to be part of something bigger and to get to know some of the people in the writers’ group. I will go again and will later show them the outcomes of my project. Who knows where this might lead in the future.
The poem:
Lady At A Mirror
As in sleeping-drink spices
softly she loosens in the liquid-clear
mirror her fatigued demeanour;
and she puts her smile deep inside.
And she waits while the liquid
rises from it; then she pours her hair
into the mirror, and, lifting one
wondrous shoulder from the evening gown,
she drinks quietly from her image. She drinks
what a lover would drink feeling dazed,
Searching it, full of mistrust; and she only
beckons to her maid when at the bottom
of her mirror she finds candles, wardrobes,
and the cloudy dregs of a late hour.
Here’s a few of my favourite images that I took in the studio this week. I haven’t had much experience in the studio but I am loving it! I found the lighting set-up exercise really interesting and fun so heres a few of my favourites. Hope you enjoy!
Vicky 🙂
Here’s a few examples of Niki’s work in the studio. Her project is called ‘The Dressing Up Box.
“I want to show children in a series of different outfits and mask and let them show me their personality within that costume. Children act differently when in costumes than when in their everyday clothing.They take on a role and hopefully this is revealed to the camera. Using my own children and my Boyfriends two children, the age range is 5 to 14 , but will mainly be using the 5 and 6 year olds as younger children understand it more and are fearless.”
Here is a few examples of Lee’s work; The top one was taken in London, apart of his documentary project, the second was taken in the studio showing two every different lighting set-ups which we had to do as part of our Portraiture Lighting Book. And the third image was also taken in the studio showing the Short Lighting set-up.
By Gema Bird
sn3photography 